The grandfather of the 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher said the overblown news coverage of the incident was racially motivated and claimed it would have been much less if the teacher had been black.
He made the comments in the first televised interview with the boy’s mother since the Jan. 6 incident.
“Absolutely,” Calvin Taylor told ABC News when asked if he thought there was a racial component to the coverage.
“I think that if the dynamics were different, if the teacher maybe looked like me, and the student was Caucasian or of another nationality, I wouldn’t be so excited,” he explained.
Deja Taylor said in the interview that she took responsibility for her child’s actions.
“This is my son, so as a parent, I’m obviously willing to take responsibility for him, because he can’t take responsibility for himself,” Taylor said.
The 25-year-old teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, was later identified as Abby Zwerner. He was shot in the hand and chest in the January 6 incident that shocked the nation.
The family had previously admitted the boy had used a legally registered gun on his mother, but claimed it had been properly insured.
His attorney said they were not prepared to discuss how the boy got access to the gun.
“We’re not ready to discuss it at this point,” James Ellenson said. “I don’t know that any adults know exactly how he got the gun.”
Taylor offered more details about the boy’s acute disability, saying that other people with ADHD “may have it at a very mild rate, but he’s off the wall, he doesn’t sit still, ever.”
A previous statement from the family said the boy had a care plan that involved his presence at school.
“Our son has an acute disability and was under a school care plan that included his mother or father going to school with him and walking him to class every day. The week of the shooting was the first week we weren’t in class. with him,” the statement said.
Taylor said they moved away from that care plan after the boy was transferred to another doctor who changed his medication and the boy began meeting his academic goals.
He also said the boy liked his teacher but would come home and tell him he felt ignored.
Prosecutors said in March they would not charge the boy in the incident, but Taylor was charged with felony child neglect and recklessly discharging a firearm to endanger a child. She faces up to 6 years in prison if convicted.
Zwerner has filed a $40 million lawsuit against the school in which he claims school officials ignored threats and other signals from the boy on the day of the shooting.
Taylor says the boy is not talking about the shooting incident. He is in the custody of his grandfather.
Here is the video of the ABC News interview:
Mother of 6-year-old boy who shot teacher: ‘I’m ready to take responsibility’ | ABCNLwww.youtube.com
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